| Buyback Scorecard Stock Buybacks Wrestle with an Aging BullThe S&P 500 as Stock Repurchasers Best & Worst Companies |
The table below ranks the 278 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from December 31, 2013, through December 31, 2014. The companies are ranked according to their return on investment from these repurchases. As calculated by Fortuna Advisors, a New York City-based consultancy that compiled the data for Institutional Investor, buyback ROI measures the overall rate of return of buybacks, based on the internal rate of return of the cash flows associated with them. Buyback strategy tracks the performance of the underlying stock in terms of annualized total shareholder return. Once Fortuna determines buyback ROI and buyback strategy, buyback effectiveness can then be calculated as simply the difference between the two, determined as compounded return.
| How Industries Compare as Stock Repurchasers | |||||||||
| Industry | Market Cap ($ Millions) | Total Buyback (S Millions) | $ Total Buyback as % Market Cap | Buyback Strategy | Buyback Effectiveness | Buyback ROI | |||
| Technology Hardware and Equipment | 1,248,326 | 132,378 | 10.6 | 21.5 | 13.1 | 37.4 | |||
| Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment | 464,665 | 26,096 | 5.6 | 32.6 | 0.8 | 33.6 | |||
| Transportation | 433,574 | 24,343 | 5.6 | 39.8 | -4.4 | 33.6 | |||
| Healthcare Equipment and Services | 847,808 | 55,759 | 6.6 | 29.9 | -1.5 | 28.0 | |||
| Real Estate | 461,975 | 1,709 | 0.4 | 17.1 | 6.9 | 25.2 | |||
| Retailing | 852,913 | 53,789 | 6.3 | 24.8 | -1.9 | 22.5 | |||
| Food and Staples Retailing | 595,385 | 21,319 | 3.6 | 26.9 | -3.8 | 22.0 | |||
| Diversified Financials | 773,278 | 49,347 | 6.4 | 30.7 | -6.9 | 21.7 | |||
| Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 1,637,676 | 67,292 | 4.1 | 29.5 | -7.1 | 20.3 | |||
| Consumer Durables and Apparel | 291,503 | 12,014 | 4.1 | 25.9 | -5.4 | 19.1 | |||
| Insurance | 515,590 | 37,655 | 7.3 | 25.5 | -6.0 | 18.0 | |||
| Capital Goods | 1,408,997 | 86,246 | 6.1 | 25.4 | -6.7 | 17.0 | |||
| Software and Services | 2,140,389 | 109,059 | 5.1 | 20.0 | -2.8 | 16.7 | |||
| Media | 682,007 | 59,662 | 8.7 | 27.7 | -8.8 | 16.4 | |||
| Consumer Services | 338,028 | 14,360 | 4.2 | 19.6 | -2.7 | 16.3 | |||
| Banks | 1,135,209 | 43,484 | 3.8 | 25.2 | -7.1 | 16.2 | |||
| Household and Personal Products | 398,722 | 18,832 | 4.7 | 16.7 | -2.2 | 14.1 | |||
| Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 1,032,109 | 46,307 | 4.5 | 18.3 | -3.9 | 13.8 | |||
| Materials | 603,099 | 39,123 | 6.5 | 21.8 | -7.1 | 13.1 | |||
| Utilities | 592,742 | 1,614 | 0.3 | 17.8 | -4.7 | 12.3 | |||
| Telecommunication Services | 419,184 | 17,034 | 4.1 | 5.2 | 0.0 | 5.2 | |||
| Commercial and Professional Services | 126,530 | 9,307 | 7.4 | 16.2 | -10.0 | 4.6 | |||
| Energy | 1,572,304 | 82,888 | 5.3 | 11.2 | -9.2 | 1.0 | |||
| Automobiles and Components | 204,068 | 13,144 | 6.4 | 23.0 | -18.7 | 0.0 | |||
| S&P 500 | 18,776,083 | 1,022,762 | 5.4 | 23.4 | -3.2 | 19.5 | |||
| Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from December 2013 to December 2014. Includes the 493 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 12/31/2014. Companies included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion. | |||||||||
